To his fans he was a boisterous northern comedian who didn’t take life too seriously. They would roar with laughter at the gurning faces and rapid-fire jokes.

But behind the curmudgeonly persona he portrayed on stage, Les Dawson was quite a different character.

The real man has been revealed in a series of scripts, letters and diaries only recently discovered since his death from a heart attack two decades ago.

In the papers he left behind for his family, Les – who first shot to fame after appearing on TV talent show Opportunity Knocks in 1967 – emerges as an organised, conscientious worker, a romantic husband and a doting father.

“They show the Les I knew, not the Les the world saw,” says his widow Tracy, 62.

“They show the wonderful, caring, thoughtful side to Les. He was more than just gags.”

(Image: Sunday Mirror)

Tracy, the mother of the comic’s youngest child Charlotte, now 20, only found his intimate papers last year. At the time of his death in June 1993, she says she was just too devastated to sort through his study.

It was only when she was forced last March to move for financial reasons from the house they shared in Lytham St Anne’s, Lancs, did she uncover the secret treasure trove of mementos he’d left behind.

Now in the run-up to the 20th anniversary of his death, she is giving the public a glimpse of the Les they never knew.

In one letter left to Tracy, who has never remarried, the funnyman reveals his romantic side.

He wrote: “To my darling wife, love is being part of your life. You are my friend, my conscience, my keeper, my heart. It would be wonderful to grow old together, we’d have such wonderful memories. As we grow older our love will only grow with strength. All my love, Les.”

He also left a letter for Charlotte, as well as books of scripts, stage notes and personal diaries.

Both Tracy and Charlotte believe the heartfelt outpourings show he may have had a premonition of his untimely death at the age of 62.

Tracey Dawson (Image: Sunday Mirror)

Tracy says: “It was very emotional finding the letters but it was like a sign that he was still with us.

“I like to think he wanted me to find those things after he was gone so I could still feel close to him at a time when I was being made to move away from the home we shared.

“I didn’t want to move because our house was Les’s pride and joy.

“I’d held on to it for 20 years so Charlotte could grow up around her dad’s things but it wasn’t economically feasible to keep it any longer.

“But I know Les is still with me because I have taken all those things with me. I have his ashes in his new garden, too.”

Among the treasures Tracy found in Les’s study were books of comedy scripts and even some gags that never made it on stage.

Among several diaries he left one dedicated to Charlotte, who was just eight months old when he died.

The opening pages contain her name, date of birth, along with Tracy’s name and his own. Below are their family nicknames. “Bumbley names: Mother – Poo, Father – Lumpy, Charlotte – Babba Boo Boo,” it reads.

(Image: Sunday Mirror)

“I can’t even remember where they came from now – he was just always so full of fun,” says Tracy.

The diary also records his youngest daughter’s early days, listing the big names she met, despite her tender years, including Cher, Leslie Grantham, Terry Wogan and Jennifer Saunders.

On the next page, he wrote: “She is a bouncing baby girl and weighs at present 20lbs. Charlotte goes everywhere with Lumpy and Poo and they love Charlotte.”

Les was renowned for being laid-back but the precisely labelled manuscripts paint a more meticulous picture of him.

“Nice to be here – anywhere if it’s dry. I don’t get many bookings,” he wrote in perfect blue fountain-pen block capitals.

“Not too much applause, it lulls me into a false sense of security. Save some for when the act starts going down the drain... any time now.”

Tracy says: “People thought it was all off the cuff and Les was naturally hilarious but he took his work very seriously, too. He would spend hours locked away working on routines.

Les Dawson with baby Charlotte (Image: Tony Spencer)

“But even I didn’t realise how organised he was until I found all his scripts. I’m sure there is some material that he never even got a chance to try on stage.

“He just had so much of it. He really was overflowing with talent and ideas.”

Les’s written legacy has reinforced Tracy and Charlotte’s suspicions that he knew he was going to die.

Tracy says: “After he passed away, I heard a show he’d done on Radio 2 the week before the heart attack. The DJ had asked him about Charlotte and he said that if he got six years with her he would be happy.

“Those aren’t the words of someone who thinks they’re going to live a long and healthy life.

“I think he knew he wasn’t going to be around to see her grow up but maybe he didn’t realise how soon he was going to die.”

But the day before the massive heart attack that killed him, Les also made a distressed call to a close friend and asked him to look after his family if anything happened to him.

(Image: Sunday Mirror)

“Les had called our dear friend, the actor Edward Woodward. Apparently Les was very serious and told him he had to look after Charlotte and me.

“It’s as if he knew he was getting closer to the end and that something bad was going to happen.

“Then when we were at the hospital the next day, we were sitting in the waiting room for his check-up and he asked me to go and get him a coffee and a newspaper.

“Moments later he was dead. I believe he did that because he didn’t want me to be there when he died.

“I thought he was invincible – he seemed like the kind of bloke that would live for ever but I’m certain he knew he was going to die. I like to think that he left these beautiful things for us to help us keep going after he was gone.”

In a special tribute to her late husband, Tracy is to share her precious hoard of papers with the nation in an emotional celebration of his life on ITV1’s Les Dawson: An Audience With... That Never Was, to be screened on Saturday June 1.